IT'S OFFICIAL!
My fiance and I have been together for two years. I feel on a day like today, that it is entirely acceptable to reminisce. I'll begin by talking about when we were little, considering that in the past two years we have discussed our lives extensively. :-)
When I was little my favorite movie to watch over and over and over again was Disney's Cinderella. I know, "how cliche?" But seriously, I watched this movie and dreamt about my prince charming, my wedding, and my fairytale ending. I pictured myself dancing in my princess dress with my tall dark and handsome prince. Though I didn't imagine the kissing part because at that point, boys still had cooties. The dreams of the perfect kiss came later on (MUCH LATER ON). That dream has stuck with my from the time I was 3 years old till now.
Christopher on the other hand has told me that his first dreams about a wedding was after watching the action romance film "Robin Hood" with Kevin Costner. He dreamt of finding his Maid Marian Dubois (Princess of the forest if you will) rescuing her from the opression of stupid men (Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham) and whisking her away to live happily ever after. After seeing that movie his idea of the perfect wedding was set in the forest or at least in nature with autumn leaves and flowers falling all around him and his princess. Now despite the differences in the movies their is a similarity in the underlying theme. Boy rescues girl, sweeps her off of her feet, and rides off into the sunset for a life of forever happiness. Granted the way things are going, our life will be more like Robin Hood the Cinderella, but hey a girl can dream... Either way I am happy, because either way I have my prince charming! :-)
Fast forward to age 16... ahhhh sweet sixteen, a time of blissful ignorance and curiosity. I met this boy in highschool... he worked at the local McDonalds and one of my friends had a huge crush on him and asked me to break the ice as she was very shy and flirtation retarded, so being who I was I did as she asked and then according to her rules I was forbayed from talking to him after their introduction. I would see him here and there, he even came into the restuarant that I was working at, and we would exchange smiles and a nod of aknowledgment but that was it.
A few years and several failed relationships later I decided to take a break from dating and did so for quite some time. I turned 21 and was able to go to the bars and met a new friend Amber. After adding her as a friend on facebook and myspace I randomly decided to browse her photos discovering a few photos with him in them. With no intentions of anything coming of it, I commented on my friend’s wall and asked her how she knew him and remarked on how gorgeous he was. A few weeks later I recieved a message from him asking details about me and exactly how we knew eachother. After exchanging a few messages here and there and establishing the connection between the two of us we decided to take it one step further and began talking on the phone. After conversing a few times via telephone and bouncing around the idea of hanging out some time we chose to set up a meeting... a date if you will.
Our first date, he took me to Ruby Tuesday which for those of you who don't know I HATE THAT PLACE. The only thing I liked on the menu was the soup and salad bar deal, thats the only thing I could choke down. He thought I was being one of those dumb girls who pretended that that was how I always ate, obviously thats not the case. After the first date... wow... we just had such amazing chemistry, I found everything about him so intriguing and attractive... he was just perfect! After seeing eachother and going out on dates for many weeks he asked me to be his girlfriend. Adorable story actually, and since this is my blog I say we have time for a short detour. We were sitting on my couch, at my house fully embraced in one another and watching a movie, though what movie I can't remember as I was more wrapped up in him than anything. He looked at me with those gorgeous brown eyes of his and said "So what are we doing here?" and then as I tilted my head to the side, you know as a dog does when he/she looks confused, and he said "I was just thinking, do you maye want to make this official?" and I asked "What do you mean?" to which he said, "What I'm trying to say..." and with a big gulp of anxiety he uttered, "Do you want to be my girlfriend?" SO CUTE! Right? To this day thinking about it makes me smile.
Fast forward again 1 year, 10 months, and 4 days (and a whole lot of crap later). It was Christmas Eve 2009. Chris had convinced me that he didn't have enough money to buy me what he really wanted to, which was an engagement ring. He had also led me to believe that he had bought me a necklace instead, which regardless of how beautiful or thoughtful the necklace was it was still bittersweet as we had been talking about getting engaged and getting married for a while. But, in an effort to not hurt his feelings and make him feel guilty about not being able to give me a ring I put the thought out of my mind completely (well as much as I could) and tried to focus on the holiday and what it truly meant, which by the way was celebrating "his" life and the fact that he was born and died to allow us to live the lives we do with our friends, family, and loved ones. Christmas Eve came, and Christopher came over after work to partake in the family Christmas party. He seemed a little antsy but I figured that it was just a bad day at work or something. Later on, my grandparents called everyone in the living room to make a toast, which was a bit unusual but I assumed that it was in retrospect to my parents who moved to Florida last year and by some miracle managed to make it for Christmas. They made their little toast and Chris told me that he couldn't wait anymore to give me my gift. He handed me a box that looked like it might have a necklace or bracelett in it. Begruggingly I opened the gift, "knowing" that it was only a necklace. As I opened the box a piece of paper fell out, and after I laughed at myself for dropping things without an ounce of booze in me (:-P) I bent over and picked up the piece of paper, noticed the writing, and read what it said. In his hand writing the words read, "Will you marry me?" and when I looked up he was down on one knee with the most beautiful engagement ring nestled in that wonderful little box every girl dreams of seeing one day. I shrieked and fell to my knees wrapping my arms tightly around his neck as my family clapped and did their traditional "WOO HOOs!" After several moments passed I let loose on my grip and looked at his smiling face with tears in my eyes, and being who he is he grinned and said "So is that a yes?" and I nodded giddily and hugged him tightly again. He placed my beautiful ring on my left ring finger and I knew right then and there that this was forever (I knew before that, but this really just solidified everything).
Now here we are. February 20th, 2010 and we are going to celebrate 2 crazy but wonderful years together in the customary "Chris & Ashley Way", with dinner and a movie. It may not be the most extravagant or exciting to anyone else, but to me it's the best... and I couldn't be happier doing anything with anyone else. And someday soon I will be Mrs. Christopher Heino Puding (go ahead and laugh), and we will celebrate this day as well as the day we marry from then until forever.
"To be your friend was all I ever wanted; to be your lover was all I ever dreamed."
~Valerie Lombardo~
